Greeks Feel Tug Of Ethnic Pride Versus Politics On Election Day

November 09, 1988|By John Kass.

On the feast day of the Archangel Michael, the name day of Michael Dukakis, many Chicago-area Greeks juggled their ethnic pride against their political conscience as they cast their vote for President.

Vasilios Eckonomou, 29, an engineer, is typical of many first-generation Greek-Americans in Chicago who grew up in one of the thousands of households here founded by immigrants from the provincial town of Tripolis in the Pelopenesos.

``I`m proud of my heritage and of my name,`` he said Tuesday, while walking to a polling place in southwest suburban Palos Hills.

``They say you should vote for Dukakis because he`s Greek,`` Eckonomou said. ``But I`m not voting for thinly-masked Kennedy liberalism. We`re hard working. My father came here with nothing, and I don`t want to throw my tax dollars away on failed liberal, social engineering.``

The stereotypical view of Greeks in America revolves around restaurants and produce shops and widows dressed in black. But Chicago`s Greek community has prospered and changed, moving from the city to the suburbs. Perhaps its politics has changed as well, Eckonomou said.

Not so, said his cousin, John Katsaros, a social science teacher at East Leyden High School in Franklin Park.

``We feel a great deal of pride that a son of immigrants like myself has been raised to a step away from the White House,`` Katsaros said. ``And I support Dukakis, not just as a Greek, but for what he stands for.``

But Eckonomou said, ``As Greeks in America have prospered-as our family has-they moved from 100 percent Roosevelt Democrats to Reagan Republicans.``

In a South Side restaurant, a Greek immigrant who has maintained a strict devotion to his culture and his church, including demanding that his sons marry Greek women, said he had wrestled with his presidential choice.

He stood alone in the kitchen, waving his hands as he supervised the preparation of the soups and the chopping of steaks. All his life, he had supported everything that was Greek. He recalled that on one night in the 1960`s, when Miss Greece won the Miss Universe title, he excitedly telephoned all his relatives to congratulate them.

``Don`t use my name because I`m in business and because some Greeks won`t understand and would want to cut my throat,`` he said. ``But I can`t support Dukakis. I know he`s Greek, like me, but he`s too liberal. Most Greeks are conservative. I just can`t vote for the guy.``

At another nearby restaurant, Carver`s, at 4750 W. 103d St., Oak Lawn, the cooks were resigned to what appeared to be a huge margin for Bush.

``It`s a sad thing,`` said the chef, Louis Kokinakos, 58, a Spartan. ``We had an opportunity to have a Greek president, but he didn`t lie enough.``

Andreas Glikis, 43, another cook, had hoped Dukakis would win, but stopped expecting victory weeks ago. ``At the second debate it was over. He didn`t have any fire. He didn`t have what`s important to us-tharos. It means having guts, having fire.``

Leaders of the Greek community here say they expect that most immigrants will vote for Dukakis because of his heritage, while their children and grandchildren vote after considering ideology and other aspects of the campaign.

Greeks, unlike other ethnic groups, such as the Irish or blacks, have in the main rejected the use of government and politics as a means to improve their lot.

According to sociologists, America`s Greek community has acted much like Asian-Americans, relying on independent businesses and education, while remaining suspicious of activist government.

This dynamic, coupled with liberalization of the once insular Greek community in America, has caused tension in churches around Chicago as the presidential campaign intensified.

There has been religious tension as some Greek Orthodox priests openly criticized Dukakis for his ``pro-choice`` position on abortion, considered antithetical to church doctrine. Others supported Dukakis, believing the aspirations of the Greek community would be served if he were elected.

``The church is not the sole center of Greek life here anymore, as it was a few years ago,`` said Rev. Gabriel Karambis, pastor of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Oak Lawn and president of the Greek Orthodox Clergy for the Chicago Diocese.

Karambis has forbidden political activity at St. Nicholas despite pressure from both sides.

``Dukakis` father was my physician at the seminary in Massachusetts,``

Karambis said. ``And people are very proud that he is of Greek descent. The new immigrants are in his favor 100 percent. They`re perhaps blinded by admiration. But the Greek-Americans look at his party and his politics. It is not an easy choice for any of us.``